25 Fashion Websites to Care About

The Internet can be confusing to anyone in the fashion industry. There are thousands of websites, resources and blogs that offer information on marketing, celebrity fashion, trends, “what’s hot now” articles, website tutorials – the list goes on and on.So how do you cut through the good, the bad, the ugly and sometimes utterly bizarre and establish a core group of web resources that will educate, illuminate and help you monetize your web ventures? Following in Mashable’s steps with their article, the Top 25 sites for the Fashion Minded, I’ve compiled a list of sites that retailers, designers, writers and industry professionals should know about.Fashion NewsGlam.com – Glam.com is a one-stop shop for articles fashion news, celebrity happenings, trend watching and lifestyle articles. The Glam Publishers’ Network allows you to syndicate your blog content, increase site revenue and boost your brand awareness.Bust Magazine – Bust is the online version of the magazine; it offers fashion, lifestyle and beauty articles. Bust’s amazing Girl Wide Web offers a blog directory of female writers/bloggers. If you are looking to explore world women’s issues, the alt-side of sex, art or any other topic, the directory is a great place to start.Behind The Runway - Behind the Runway is Web 2.0-inspired fashion website. With a philosophy of “a woman should have a wardobe that wears her, and not the other way around,” BTR aims to help the woman behind the clothing shine through. BTR offers a unique view into the world of fashion, one that’s unairbrushed, unedited, and unmistakably real. I personally love the concept of inner beauty is a woman’s best accessory.BusinessOfFashion.net – Business Of Fashion is a portal to the latest international fashion news online. BoF explores issues at the intersection of fashion and business, leveraging a network of writers in New York, Los Angeles, France, Italy and Germany who deliver opinionated analysis on emerging designers and global brands from around the world. BOF has recently added emphasis on independent fashion designers, writers and trendsetters working to clear the convoluted blogosphere and draw attention to those offering well thought out, original online content.Think Fashion - Think Fashion is one part digital magazine, one part social community, one part etail. Throw out your gossip rags and get your Hollywood juice here.Inside The Tents – offers up to the minute online news coverage on everything related to New York Fashion Week. Founded by Yuli Ziv of Style Coalition & My It Things, I love the social sharing of Fashion Week through Twitter and Flickr.IndependentFashionBloggers.org – IFB is a blog/community forum created in reaction to corporate networks springing up than the Jennine Tamm could keep track of. IFB is a community of independent fashion lovers, independent fashion labels or women who love some aspect of fashion/design and have dedicated their writing to their passion. The community is supportive and informative; forum participants are dedicated to supporting fellow members in growing their online businesses and monetizing their websites.Trend SpottingTrendhunter.com – Trend Hunter offers overall trend reports on 2,200+ micro trends grouped into 300+ clusters of inspiration. It offers free overviews of emerging trends and scales up to paid trends in niche industry including fashion, design, online marketing, mobile technology and eco-green initiatives. Monthly videos and weekly emails make for quick information updates on all areas of lifestyle marketing.Fashion 156 - Inspiration is international, in this case, it’s English. Fashion 156 is an online fashion magazine for men & women written in London. It’s a great resource for all things UK and offers an innovative way to look at vintage-inspired fashion.Style.com – The online home of Vogue. Style.com offers designer video profiles, trend reports, international fashion news and an interactive community that includes lookbook features.Stylist.com – Stylist.com goes beyond fashion, it encompasses, hair, beauty and home. Stylist.com talks about what is hot now, what the average woman is wearing and how she is wearing it on the street.Spring Spotters – The Springspotter Network consists of thousands of business-savvy individuals from all over the world, users email Springspottters whenever they ’spot’ a promising new business idea. Accepted contributions get rewarded with cool stuff (iPods, gift certificates, books – stuff you actually want) and occasionally mention in the Springspotter newsletter.Social Sites & Lifestyle BlogsClosetCouture.com – Closet Couture is a different breed of outfitting website. Closet Couture has it’s a user take photos of what’s in her closet and other members can give her advice on whether an outfit works or not. If a user has friends on the site, she can borrow clothes from her friend’s closet – either online or in real life. Closet Couture offers a unique service for retail brands and wardrobe stylists; it allows brands and stylists to help member pair clothing and accessories. So for a stylist who is trying to make a name for herself, this a great way to garner exposure. For a brand, it’s a great way to build brand awarness and listen to what women buying your products actually want.Notcouture.com – You can add images of fashion and fashion related accessories you find around online that inspire you to create a PICTUREBOOK to achieve “a visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusements.”Polyvore.com – If you aren’t a Photoshop expert, you can fake it. Polyvore allows you to create and edit fashion sets created from items saved from real online stores. They don’t have to be outfit sets; you can also create groups items. Once done, save it and show it off to other site visitors so they can comment on the look you created. You embed them on your blog as well.Weardrobe.com – Weardrobe is a fashion community focused not just on what you wear, but how you wear it. It was inspired by the unique and inspirational styles of “What I Wore” fashion bloggers and groups like wardrobe remix. Create inspirations by posting photos of your outfits. Very similar to Closet Couture.OSOYOU.com – Find items you like in shops, drag them to your profile, share them with others, buy what you want. A great community of women internationally offer sensible and savvy fashion ideas (Mashable 2008).Fashionising.com - A social site for fashion professionals. The site offers a mixture of fashion news and trends. I consider it one of the best blogs on emerging and extremely fashion forward trends out there.FashionIndie.com – One of the most comprehensive independent, well written and well thought out, pop culture-inspired sites out there. Daniel Saynt of Fashion Indie covers every industry – and a few non industry – topic under the sun. This blogzine is a DAILY MUST READ.StyleHive.com – Part social network and part social book marking for the fashion and shopping obsessed people out there. Style Hive offers user-generated fashion trends for anyone who lives for fashion, home design and shopping.StyleMob.com - A place for street fashionistas to post their looks and let “the mob” vote on it. Can post the looks to many of the popular social networks (Mashable 2008).TeamSugar.com – A women’s only social network with blogs on the latest trends, sharing your shopping finds, recipes, celebrity style, pets, politics and anything else you can imagine. My Favorite is StyleIt.Chictini.com – Chictini could be considered the “Digg” of Fashion. Chictini is a fashion social network that focuses on fashion discovery. You can submit products and show off your personal style. Community users are able to vote on weather something is “weak” or “chic”.StyleFeeder.com - A browser add-on that allows you to shop online with friends, and get instant responses to what they think of a product before you buy it. It integrates into most social media applications including Facebook.ThisNext.com – ThisNext.com is the social shopping site where people explore, discover and rave about the hottest products. Their good karma mantra is “Great products can help us do, be and experience the things that make us happy. Our goal is to help people discover great and deeply gratifying products and not waste your hard earned money.” Loving that philosophy.PR Couture – Where online publicity and fashion HONESTLY live; PR Couture is a respected online resource for successful, emerging and aspiring fashion publicists, designers, students, and educators to share tips, tricks, challenges, and commentary about the role of public relations in the fashion industry.If you're interested in learning more about great websites for fashion brands, writers & marketers, visit FashionablyMarketing.Me for more information.

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